“Oh… Yeah. ‘Monster.’ No wonder he attacked me without warning.”
There in the glass stood a figure in a leotard, donning head-mounted night vision goggles.
That would look like a monster to someone from the other world, huh.
It was my own fault, goddamnit!
“Lady Mitsuha, there’s a strange rumor going around the city,” Larusia said. It was the next day and they were having tea at Larusia Company.
“There is?” Mitsuha said as she took a sip.
“Yes. Apparently, there was a monster in the guards’ headquarters last night…”
Pffft!
Mitsuha spat out her tea and broke into a violent coughing fit.
“A-Are you okay, Lady Mitsuha?!”
“Oh, uh, sorry…”
Most people would complain after someone spat tea in their face, but Larusia’s first reaction was to show concern. She’s so kind…
Mitsuha had disappeared as soon as the guard saw her, so she was hoping he’d dismiss it as his eyes playing tricks or that he’d blame himself for being half asleep on the job and refrain from reporting it to his superiors. Why would he report anything if he had no proof she was there? Doing so risked making his colleagues assume he was a liar or that he’d been nodding off while on duty, or even insane. I ran into a really diligent guard…
“The rumor describes the monster as having the figure of an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy with big eyes bulging out of its head,” Larusia said.
“What?” I can’t let that one slide… “H-How was the monster described again?”
She knew she might regret that question.
Larusia answered, “It looked like a boy around eleven or twelve years old. The guard only saw its top half because he instinctively drew his sword and swung at it. It had dry, earth-colored skin and was totally naked. But he was certain that’s what he saw.”
Mitsuha said nothing.
“Uh, is something wrong, Lady Mitsuha?”
She clenched her fists.
“Um… Lady Mitsuha?”
And began to tremble.
“Wh… Wh-Wh-What’s wrong?”
“…He’s dead meat.”
You know, I don’t believe that all city guards are bad people. It’s most likely only a handful of the higher-ups who are guilty of taking bribes and living it up. I’m sure the vast majority of guards are respectable citizens who work hard for the city on a salary that’s way too meager for the dangers of the job. That’s why I was only planning on crushing the bad people and leaving the regular hard-working guards alone.
But hear me, guard who saw me in a leotard and described me as a naked boy. You’re freaking done for!
Mitsuha decided against setting up any more voice recorders in the city guards’ headquarters. She ended up with two unused devices, but she’d covered the rooms where she expected to pick up the juiciest info. That should be enough.
The headquarters might’ve increased security because of last night’s incident and manned more patrol staff or set traps. There could’ve been guards hidden under the floor, above the ceiling, or inside cabinets. The risk of placing two more recorders in trivial locations was too great. She decided to leave the recorders alone for a while. The odds of them being discovered were slim.
The guards would’ve rushed to check the safes to see if the intruder had stolen any important documents, but it wouldn’t have occurred to them that the trespasser had left trinkets behind. There was no way they would’ve noticed the small recorders that were hidden out of sight. If they did, it didn’t matter since they only cost fifty dollars.
Well, it was a little more with the external mics, but whatever.
She was lucky that the sighting occurred in the guards’ headquarters and not elsewhere. If an incident like that happened at a merchant’s house, all the other merchants would’ve tightened their security. They might’ve ordered their guards to start patrolling at night to look out for trespassers. But the incident happened at the guards’ headquarters which had nothing to do with the merchants. The stores wouldn’t do much to improve their security.
The recorders at the guards’ building won’t need any attention for a while. I’ll focus on investigating the merchants in the meantime. Safety comes first.
I’m at the identification stage right now. I can’t let anyone catch on to me.
Who are our friends? Which ones are our foes? Once I have the whole picture, the latter will receive a nasty surprise.
“Are there any naughty kids around?” she sneered to herself.
In Japan, there were deities called namahage who visited the towns and villages to admonish wrongdoers and bring protection from disaster. One of them was about to appear in the other world.
“…So yeah, can you please help me?!”
“Again?!”
“You brought more than last time!”
Colette and Sabine made their displeasure known when Mitsuha dumped another mountain of voice recorders on them. They were the ones retrieved from the other merchants’ stores.
They’re right, though… There’s certainly more than before…
“Don’t worry. Each one has a lot more audio than last time!” Mitsuha grinned.
“That makes it worse!” the girls yelled in unison.
Wow, they’re really on the same wavelength these days!
“Well, it might bring you some comfort to know I’m planning on doing this a few more times,” said Mitsuha.
“How is that comforting?!” they synchronized again.
Talk about being one in body and soul!
“From now on, I shall call you White and Black! White for Colette’s pure heart, and Black for Sabine’s scheming ways!”
“Shut up!” snapped Sabine.
“Oh, you’re falling out of sync, Sabine.”
“There’s no use trying to distract us, Mitsuha! We’ll help because it looks like you have no other choice, but you’d better reward us for this!”
Despite all her complaining, Sabine’s always willing to help me when I’m in trouble. The same goes for Colette, of course. They never forget to demand a reward, though…
“Um, wh-what about the tickets I gave you last─”
“No! Those were for the last favor! This is a new one!” Sabine argued.
“Grk…”
This is bad… I’m not too worried about giving Colette another ticket to let her do whatever she wants but giving Sabine another ticket for an item of her choice from Japan could be the end of me. I’m gonna need their help with the audio a few more times too… But these two refuse to accept money from me…
Is there any other reward I can give them?
Maybe I should make this the last time I spy on the merchants and narrow my focus on the city guards and higher authorities…
Mitsuha and the girls decided they’d discuss the rewards for this and any future favors later. She warned them to keep their demands within reason, of course, and made it clear that they were not to pull any more all-nighters. Getting plenty of rest and sleep in between the job was a must.
Staying up all night and overworking yourself are bad for your skin. My self-healing ability probably takes care of that, though…
For their sake, Mitsuha gave them three days to work this time. During that period, the other merchant companies would go unrecorded. Instead, Mitsuha hid additional voice recorders at the store of the main culprit, Enoba Company.